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In 1953, at the height of her professional dancing career, Elizabeth Twistington Higgins contracted polio and was left paralysed from the neck down. As breathing requires a monumental effort on her part, she must spend every night in an iron lung to enable her to sleep.

Determined to find an outlet for her creativity, Elizabeth painstakingly taught herself how to paint, honing her limited movements to control a paintbrush and a specially-adapted canvas. Despite garnering great acclaim for her paintings, her dream was to return to her first love, dance.

Now 55, she has become the successful choreographer of her own dance company, which performs to religious music in churches. Elizabeth often uses her paintings as a means to illustrate complex movements in her choreography to her dancers.

This clip is from Nationwide.

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